The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 30 Skills and Tactics
Teng Yuzao waved his hand to signal Liu Yuzhi to sit down, and then continued, "Secondly, our training still emphasizes intensive firepower. This combat concept seems to be outdated now."

"For example, when the two platoons on the left sentry attacked the defenseless squad of Austrians outside the west gate, the concentrated fire of 80 people only killed four Austrians and injured one, allowing eight Austrians to escape into the west gate."

Li Yulin also stood up with some shame and said, "It was my poor command, and I am willing to be punished."

Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "Yuxuan, please sit down. This has nothing to do with you. I am talking about this today to discuss the matter at hand. I found our shortcomings, not to hold anyone responsible. If anyone is to be held responsible, the responsibility is not on you, but on me, the captain. I did not pay attention to hand-to-hand combat and shooting accuracy."

Teng Yuzao had nothing to feel embarrassed about for what he said, because if there was any mistake, it was actually caused by Teng Yuzao's previous negligence, and had nothing to do with him as a time traveler. If he wanted to gradually begin to change this situation, he had to reflect on himself.

Moreover, it was inevitable that the well-equipped Qing army would be easily defeated by the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance. The Qing army had the most modern weapons and equipment, but still used cold weapon combat methods and thinking. It was impossible for it not to fail. What Teng Yuzao had to do was not only to work hard to change the individual combat methods and skills, but also to change the tactical concepts. This change had to start with his vanguard army.

Teng Yuzao continued, "It's also my fault that I, a former instructor, neglected the latest military developments abroad. Now Western powers have gradually begun to emphasize the accuracy of soldiers' shooting. The armies of major Western countries have begun to see the emergence of hunters. During combat, these hunters do not follow the brigade. They can move freely outside the brigade and aim at targets freely for accurate shooting."

Teng Yuzao put down the casualty list in his hand and continued to say to everyone, "Many people present here probably don't know that the British have been at war with the Boers in South Africa since last year. The British army has now assembled more than 200,000 troops in South Africa to deal with the Boers, who only have tens of thousands of people. However, the British still suffered a series of defeats. Do you know why?"

During this era, the Chinese people and even the imperial court were very indifferent to anything happening in the international community, and the mentality of the Celestial Empire was still very stubborn. Except for newspapers run by foreigners in Tianjin that published some international current affairs, the newspapers in the capital were the same. However, the people who read the newspapers were mainly officials and businessmen, and most of the officials who read the newspapers had no idea about international knowledge. Even when they saw South Africa, they could not figure out its geographical location, and they were completely clueless about the local Boers.

Teng Yuzao continued to answer his own questions, saying, "The reason why the Boers were able to defeat the British army despite their concentrated forces and suffered heavy casualties was not only because the Boers had flexible tactics, combining dispersed guerrilla harassment with concentrated forces to attack and annihilate, but also because everyone of them had good marksmanship and their designs were extremely accurate. They could even shoot and kill British soldiers while riding on horseback."

"I say this to emphasize that in the vanguard army, whether it is the upcoming training of new recruits or the daily training of existing troops, we must focus on hand-to-hand combat and shooting."

Teng Yuzao waved his arms vigorously and said in a resounding voice, "I hope you can all remember one sentence: only troops that dare to fight with bayonets can be a strong army!"

"But you must pay attention. I am not saying that we must win by bayonet fighting at all times. As long as the problem can be solved with bullets and artillery shells, we should try not to fight with bayonets."

"Also, I have two ideas. You guys need to figure out how to do it. That is, when engaging in hand-to-hand combat, try to work in groups of three or two, with someone providing cover and holding the enemy back, while the other person carries out the assassination."

"The same applies to attacking and retreating. Don't rush in like a swarm like in the past. With the emergence of automatic weapons like the Maxim heavy machine gun, it is easy to be shot in large numbers by the enemy if you charge or retreat in a concentrated manner." "When attacking and retreating, not only should the formation be as dispersed as possible, but also coordination should be emphasized. For example, each shed should be divided into three to four groups, with three to four people in each group. When attacking and retreating, there should be containment..."

Due to time constraints, Teng Yuzao did not have time to organize unified training. He had to instill these individual tactics and coordination tactical concepts into them first, letting them figure it out and experience it on their own. When there was a chance, he would organize the training of a group of model soldiers and have them return to their respective units for training.

Teng Yuzao raised his voice, "Since our Vanguard Army has already been named, we must form an army as soon as possible. You should have known that I have come up with a new army reorganization plan, and Yu Zhongtang has fully agreed to it. Yu Zhongtang has already sent the relevant memorial to the capital by express horse, and has approved the Vanguard Army to expand and reorganize immediately."

Teng Yuzhao's words made the eyes of the officers and students present brighten, and their eyes were filled with eager anticipation.

"The new plan is to tentatively form 25 battalions in the vanguard army, including four artillery battalions, two cavalry battalions, one engineer battalion, and 18 infantry battalions."

Although several officers, including Liu Changfa, Liu Yuzhi and Li Xianze, had already learned of this plan, they were still very excited when they heard it from Teng Yuzhao, especially since Yu Lu had already agreed to it. Moreover, at such a critical moment, the court could not only not count on the southeastern provinces, but also the Green Camp soldiers in the inland provinces. Even the Wuwei Right Army that it had built was participating in the Southeast Mutual Protection in Shandong. Now the only thing they could count on was the troops in Zhili.

As long as Yu Lu can come up with a solution, regardless of whether it is feasible or not, the court will not reject it, but will only urge him to implement it as soon as possible. Therefore, it is very likely that the court will approve Teng Yuzhao's plan. In that case, these people can at least be promoted two levels and become the commander of a battalion. It is even possible for some people to be promoted three levels.

As for promotion, the first ones to be promoted are these assistants and sentries, so how can they not be excited?

Teng Yuzao said quickly, "Now, we have a few things that need to be dealt with immediately."

"First, we must immediately recruit soldiers and quickly start training new soldiers, so we must immediately establish the Vanguard Army General Camp Office."

Teng Yuzao turned around, picked up the military reorganization plan on the table, and raised his voice, "I will appoint you now."

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(End of this chapter)